Best Babysitter Ever
by katierosefun
Summary: Leonard is excited to introduce Jim to his daughter, Joanna, but apparently, his daughter isn't feeling quite the same...


**Yes, I know, I know, I've been posting way too many cute one-shots on Bones and Jim and all that...but what can I say? I love 'em! Don't get me wrong-I also love Spock and Chekov and Sulu, but I dunno...I guess I really love Jim and Leonard's friendship. (After all, in 2009, Spock booted Jim off the ship for mutiny. I know that was part of the alternate-reality situation, but still! ;) I just always found McCoy much more likable than Spock...Spock is really stiff and even though he's a Vulcan and Vulcans are usually formal, he's also half-human...couldn't he embrace the humane side of him a bit more? (Well, in Into Darkness he sort of did...and I'm aware that Spock has a brother who is COMPLETELY Vulcan but he embraces the humane side...wow.) Anyways, my rambling is finished, enjoy this story!**

"Jo, come on down and meet Jim!" Leonard calls out eagerly up the stairs of the small house.

Jim Kirk , captain of the USS Enterprise leaned against the wall and grins. "What's wrong with her? Is she shy or something?" He asks cheerfully.

He was promptly answered with a flying ball to his head. "Ow!" Jim says, rubbing his forehead. "Who threw that?"

"Jo!" Leonard says crossly, folding his arms. "That's not very nice."

Joanna McCoy, a fourteen year old girl with hazel eyes like her father's glared down from the stairwell. "I'm not a little kid anymore, Dad." She grumbled, stomping down the steps. "Why did you bring him of all people?"

"Oh, come on, Jo. You didn't even meet the guy." Leonard says, wrapping his arms around his daughter. Johanna remained stiff and narrowed her eyes at Jim, who was smiling sheepishly at the child. He extended his hand in greeting but Joanna simply glared.

Leonard, sensing the coldness coming off of Johanna sighed and straightened himself. "Well, Jo, Jim is going to be staying with us, whether you like it or not. He's a good friend of mine and though the kid may be loose of a couple screws—"

"Hey!" Jim says indignantly and his friend chuckled lightly under his breath. "He's sincere enough. You two will be just fine." Leonard finished and Joanna sighed.

"Whatever." She said, rolling her eyes and storming up the stairs once more.

Leonard winced as he heard his daughter's bedroom door slam and he turned to Jim, whose eyebrows were raised in surprise.

"Well…I'm guessing she's having her mood swings?" He finally asks. Leonard rolled his eyes and whacked his elbow with a book lightly in warning. "She may be grouchy, Jim, but she's still my daughter. Watch it." Leonard said warningly, hauling the suitcase up the stairs.

"I still can't believe your wife allowed Joanna to stay with you." Jim said thoughtfully, looking around the upper floor.

Leonard scowled. "Nah, she almost didn't. But someone's gotta look after the kid, and she doesn't have a proper father." He said the last part quietly. "My fault, I guess."

Jim frowned and says, "Don't beat yourself up, Bones. Hell, none of us had a real father." He let out a weak chuckle and then sighed when no laugh came.

"Alright, Bones, where am I staying?" He asks. Leonard points to a room across the hall. "Unpack, take a shower, and make yourself comfortable. Meanwhile, I'll need to be talking to my daughter…" He mumbled.

Jim grimaced, glad that the roles were not switched. "Good luck with that." He says and walked off.

•◊•

When Leonard awoke, he felt a sense of renewal. He smiled to himself. Needless to say, the talk with Joanna went well last night. He figured that she was just upset about having some visitor coming on such a short notice.

The discussion had ended with a hug and a quick bedtime story, something that Johanna hadn't requested for nearly ten years now. He had went to bed with high hopes for the next day, thinking that the waters wouldn't be too rough to navigate through for his daughter and Jim.

Leonard pushed himself into the bathroom and was taking a quick shower when he heard the first crash. He frowned, not quite sure if he had heard it correctly over the din of the water hitting the floor but when he came back out, there was a definite sound of shouting and the quiet thuds of fists making impact on something else.

Leonard's eyes widened and he tossed on his clothes. He ran out of his room and down the stairs. "Joanna? Jim? The hell's going on?" He asks.

Joanna crossed her arms and glared at Jim, who was giving her just as hard of a look.

"He started it!" She says at last.

"What?" Jim blinked. "I did _not_! All I asked was if I could pour you breakfast!"

Joanna gave a scowl at Jim, which appeared to look remarkably alike to her father's. "Yeah, _right_. You spilled the cereal all over the place!" She shouts, gesturing at the ground.

Leonard peered down and sure enough, cheerios were scattered across the floor as well as smashed pieces of what used to be bowls. He sighed and rubbed his temples. So much for having a peaceful day with his daughter and his friend.

"Fine, I dropped the bowl, but I slipped! It's a mistake that everyone does!" Jim shouted back indignantly. Joanna frowned. "Then how come you blamed it on me? I didn't do anything!" She says.

Leonard felt his heart sinking at the hint of too-sweet innocence hidden in his daughter's voice. "Jo…what did you do?" He asks, sighing.

Joanna blinks and folded her hands neatly in front of her legs. "I didn't do anything, Daddy." She says idly.

Leonard face palmed and says, "Jo, please don't play innocent with me."

"Fine." Joanna finally admits. "I threw a pencil at Jim."

"What?" Leonard asked, frowning. "Jim, it was just a pencil! That hardly seems to be something you'd trip over."

Jim stuck out his tongue. "It was _sharp and pointed_." He argues. "And it was aimed at my _eye_."

Leonard rolls his eyes and says, "I'm very disappointed in you, Jo. I thought that things were going to be okay between you and Jim."

Joanna flung her hands up in the air. "Well, I'm sorry; Dad, but I don't even know him!" She snaps and gave Jim a mean glare. "And by the looks of it, he seems _awful. _Why are you even his friend?"

"Nice knowing you kid, really." Jim snapped back.

"Enough, you two." Leonard says suddenly and kneeled to the ground, sighing heavily. "I'll clean up this mess; you guys…do something else and try not to break anything."

Identical guilty looks flashed across both Joanna and Jim's faces but they wordlessly walked out of the kitchen.

◦•◦

Jim stared at Joanna warily from the couch in the small sitting room. He didn't really know what to make out of the girl—she may be his friend's daughter, but _damn_, she was a handful.

"You know, this is all your fault." Joanna finally says out loud.

Jim blinked and narrowed his eyes at the younger girl. "How is it my fault? You threw the pencil at me first!" He snaps.

Joanna glared at Jim, her arms crossed. "I wanted my dad to myself, thank you very much, not some stranger who comes in." She said, her voice cold.

Jim frowned and stood up. "Listen, Joanna, I don't mean to start anything with your dad, okay?" He says quietly. "He's just a good friend of mine and trust me, I'm not going to butt into your family…I'm just staying here a little while."

"Whatever." Joanna replied, tossing her dark brown hair over her shoulder. Jim scowled. "Well, I'll give you one thing—you definitely have your dad's attitude."

Joanna's eyes flashed. "Only difference between my dad and me is that he thinks you're a good guy. I don't think you are, so lay off." She fumed and stomped her foot.

"Keep it down, will you? Your dad's probably tired enough already." Jim snapped at last, fed up with Joanna's attitude towards him.

Before Joanna could respond, Leonard poked his head through the doorway. "I cleaned up the mess…I'm going to the store and getting some supplies. You two get some chores down and please, damn it, try not to do anything suspicious, will ya?" He says grouchily, sounding more like himself.

Joanna closes up but simply nods. "Good girl." Leonard said, relief flooding his face and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. She sighed and trudged off outside.

"What are we supposed to do?" Jim asks, crossing his arms. "I dunno, Jim…just keep her busy…maybe go turn on the sprinklers in the yard, the grass ain't looking so good…" Leonard muttered. "I know this sounds and looks bad, but—"

"I get it." Jim says, wincing. "I'll try something."

Leonard smiled tiredly. "Thanks, Jim." He says, patting his back and left the house. Jim sighed, crossing his arms and called, "Jo?"

"Don't call me that." Was Joanna's stiff reply.

Jim smirked. "Fine, I won't call you that...your dad wants us to sprinkle the lawn." He says. Joanna sighed and motioned out the back door with a simple wave of her hand. "Come on, then." She says dejectedly and Jim followed. Joanna doesn't even bother putting on her shoes as she walked outside and Jim smiled, knowing how good it would feel for the earth to be underneath his own feet, seeing that he was raised on a farm.

Joanna wordlessly dragged out the hose and begins to start it up. She grunts a little at the effort to pull at the crank and gently turns on the knob.

Jim watched as she flicked on the water and began shooting sprouts of water onto the grass. "Aren't you gonna help?" Joanna asks at last. "I can't do this by myself, you know."

Jim shrugged and took the hose. "Yeah, sure." He says nonchalantly and Joanna sighed, wiping her hands on her jean shorts before walking over to a small garden and picking away at the weeds.

That was more than enough time that Jim needed to spray at Joanna's back. The girl shrieked in surprise as the cool water made impact on the back of her shirt and she whirled around, furious. "Why'd you do that?!" She shouts, her hands clenched in fists.

"Aw, come on! Lighten up, won't you?" Jim asks teasingly before spraying some water back to the plants.

Joanna frowned. "That water is only for the lawn, genius." She snapped and turned back around to yank up some more weeds.

Jim sprayed at Joanna again and she shouts, "Stop it!"

"You didn't learn your lesson!" Jim says teasingly and Joanna stood up, her face etched with fury. "I said stop it!" She shouts, grabbing the hose out of Jim's hands and spraying him with the water.

"Whoa! Not at me!" Jim shouts, throwing his hands in front of himself. A playful, sinister smile splayed across Joanna's face and she shoots some more water towards him.

"Beg for mercy!" She yelled. "Get down on your knees and beg!"

Jim grinned and replied, "Never!"

Joanna smirked and ran towards him, willing for the hose to loop with her a bit further. Sure enough, the hose obliged and Joanna began to shoot more and more jets of water towards Jim rather than the grass. Occasionally would she remember her role in taking part in her chores, but twenty minutes later, the lawn was all but abandoned and Joanna was gleefully running away as Jim began dunking buckets of water over her.

"Not fair! Where did you even find them?" Joanna asks, nimbly climbing a tree. Jim grunted, lifting the bucket with him and says, "In the shed."

Joanna blinks and says, "We don't have a shed."

Jim raised an eyebrow. "Really? 'Cause I found one it in the thing next to your house…" His voice drifted as Joanna's eyes widened and she burst out laughing. "You idiot, that's not the shed! That's the place where we put all of the dung and stuff!" She snorted.

"What? I thought Georgia didn't have many farms—it's all plantations." Jim said, looking down at his bucket doubtfully. Joanna rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but our neighbors own horses and we allowed them to use that place for cleaning up—"

Jim cringed and gingerly let go of the bucket to the ground. He turned and asked, "Why didn't you say something?"

Joanna smiled and jumps to another branch, swinging her legs back and forth. "It's 'cause I wanted to see the expression on your face when I actually told you." She says, laughing.

"Not nice!" Jim says, smirking and jumps up after her. Joanna cries out in glee and continues climbing the tree.

"You know, you're not so bad at climbing!" Joanna shouted over her shoulder. Jim chuckles lightly under his breath and says, "You don't want to know how I came to be a good climber."

Joanna turned around and stuck her tongue out at Jim. "Nah, I think I've got a fairly good idea…my dad usually talks about your crazy adventures with the rest of the crew." She says and lands lightly on a branch, careful not to fall off.

Jim perched himself on a branch and sighed, resting his head against the tree trunk. "Yeah, well…not much peace on the Enterprise, to tell you the truth." He says, laughing lightly and crossing his arms. "But that's the best part."

Joanna smiled thoughtfully. "I dunno…my dad's always been terrified of space, you know that?" She says. Jim grinned and says, "Are you kidding me? The first thing he says when we met was 'I may throw up on you'…and then he gave me a small lecture about the dangers of space, how it's wrapped up in death and darkness and all of that gloomy stuff."

Joanna giggled and says, "That sounds like him." She turned to Jim and sighed. "Sorry for being annoying earlier." She said quietly. "I guess I'm just not used to seeing my dad that much anymore."

Jim shrugged. "I can't blame you…my own mom took another husband and well…stepdad hated my guts." He muttered. Joanna blinked and then says quietly, "Oh. Were your parents also divorced?"

"Nah. My father died." Jim replied, flicking at a piece of bark. "But hey, I never knew him so… I can't exactly miss him."

Joanna nods slowly and then brought her knees to her chest. "It was tough when I heard my parents fighting…it was always this, always that, then mom wanted this, and dad wanted that…then work was driving them both nuts, they didn't know what to do with me…" She smiled sadly. "I just want 'em back together again, you know?"

Jim turned his head a fraction of an inch just in time to see a tear slide down from Joanna's eyes. He didn't smile sympathetically or say anything. He simply nods and says, "I get it."

Joanna nodded and they both sat there like that, in a silence—but a comforted one.

◦•◦

"Nope, wrong move, you're out!" Leonard heard Jim say gleefully from Joanna's room.

"Aw, no fair! You've played this game hundreds of times, I've only played it twice!" Joanna says indignantly. Leonard smiled to himself and pushed open the door to find Joanna and Jim sitting on his daughter's bed, a chess board stretched out between them.

Judging by the annoyed look on Joanna's face, Jim had won once again.

"Fine, we'll set it up and I'll go easier on you." Jim says, humoring the girl. Joanna crossed her arms. "Oh, so now you're taking pity on me? I don't want that, either!" She says.

Jim smirked. "Then what do you want?" He asks. Joanna's face went flat and she sighed. "Ergh, my head's gonna explode!" She whines, flopping back into her pillows.

Jim grinned and looked up at Leonard. "Chess, huh?" He asks, smirking.

Jim shrugged. "Someone's got to teach her!" He says. "And we all know it's not you!"

Leonard rolled his eyes but walked in.

"How're you doing, Joanna?" Leonard asks gently. Joanna looks up and throws a pillow at Jim. "Cheater!" She says. "It's not fair to play the hardest you can to a newbie!"

Jim smirked and said, "You think I'm hard to beat? Man, if you've met my first officer…" He let out a low whistle. Leonard snickered. "Do my ears deceive me? Are you actually confessing that Spock's better than you?" He asks.

Jim flushed a light pink color and stuffs Joanna's pillow in his face. "Don't tell him I said that. I don't need that bastard getting cockier than he already is." He said.

"_Someone's cockier than you?_" Joanna asks incredulously, sitting up. She snorted. "Now that's a new one."

"Aw, come on!" Jim said, moaning. "Give me a break!"

"I'll break your nose!" Joanna volunteers and the three burst out into laughter. Leonard felt himself relax considerably as Joanna and Jim began to talk easily to each other. That was just what he had wanted.

"Come on, you two…let's get dinner started, hmm?" He says at last.

Joanna nods and then turned to Jim. "I'm not doing the silverware!" She says and bounces out of the room.

Leonard raised a confused eyebrow at Jim and he shrugged. "I don't like setting up the silverware." He admits and follows after the smaller girl.

Leonard blinks after the pair and a small smile formed on his face. He shook his head, chuckling, and walked right after them.

**A/N: As you can see, I sort of switched the POVs back and forth with Leonard and Jim...I'm working on my third person narratives, so...yeah. Anyways, it's the first time I'm writing about Leonard's daughter so I hope you enjoyed that! I could always picture some younger girl trying to sass the heck out of Kirk...and it may not be the first time...! XD Oh, and another thing-before ya'll can ask, this is NOT a McKirk story. I'm aware of this pairing and even though I love them, I just...nah, not a big fan of it. I'm not a big fan of Spirk, either. Don't freak, and I'm sorry if I'm offending any supporters of those pairings but...again, I'm not entirely comfortable with those pairings. I still love them, though. :) And now...review, please! No flames or hate comments would be beneficial for both reader and writer's mind...**


End file.
